Fifth:
His Teachers and Disciples
[A – His Teachers]
Introduction:
Ibn Kathīr directed his studies toward the religious sciences, especially jurisprudence (fiqh) and ḥadīth, together with the Qurʾānic, Prophetic, and Arabic disciplines connected to them—an orientation that prevailed in his day. This inclination was nurtured by his early upbringing within his family, above all by his brother and first teacher ʿAbd al-Wahhāb. Added to that was his own aptitude: he was quick to learn, prodigious in memorization, seldom forgetful, and clear-minded. All of this explains the close bond between him and his teachers. They loved him, urged him to persevere, and left a deep mark on the formation of his scholarly personality—figures such as the historian al-Dhahabī, the ḥadīth master al-Mizzī, and Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah.
What follows is a brief introduction to his teachers, the elite scholars of his era. Their names are arranged in chronological order according to the year of their death, beginning with the earliest. Throughout, we have been careful to let Ibn Kathīr speak for himself, drawing on his great history, al-Bidāyah wa-l-Nihāyah:
- Mūsā ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad al-Ḥalabī, Najm al-Dīn, of Damascus, d. 716 AH:
Ibn Kathīr writes:
“The distinguished scribe known as al-Buṣbuṣ, the master calligrapher of his age—particularly in the paired and triple styles—spent fifty years copying books for people, and I was among those who wrote under his supervision; may Allah reward him. He was a gracious shaykh, handsome in appearance. He died on Tuesday, the tenth of Dhū al-Qaʿdah, and was buried in the Bāb al-Ṣaghīr cemetery at the age of sixty-five.” (1)
- Zakariyyā ibn Yūsuf ibn Sulaymān ibn Ḥammād, Rukn al-Dīn al-Bajalī al-Shāfiʿī, d. 722 AH:
Ibn Kathīr does not specify the subject he studied with him; rather, he says:
“Our shaykh, the learned ascetic Rukn al-Dīn, a remnant of the early generations, deputy preacher, and instructor in the Ṭayyibiyyah and Asadiyyah madrasahs, maintained a teaching circle (2) in the mosque that students attended. He would teach the laws of inheritance and other subjects, consistently and without interruption. He died on Thursday, the twenty-third of Jumādā al-Ūlā, at the age of seventy, and was buried near his own shaykh Tāj al-Dīn al-Fazārī—may Allah have mercy on them both.” (3)